Language Spoken and written language

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

A research cannot be said theoretical if it does not have any theory to support it, because of that in this chapter the researcher would like to present the theories that support the analysis. The theories used in this thesis is the introduction of rights and responsibilities as the first part, language, spoken and written language, Systemic Functional Grammar, meaning, interpersonal meaning, mood, mood element, mood types, and speech function.

2.1. Language

People need language as the way to communicate or share the ideas. A Language is a coding system and a means by which information may be transmitted or shared between two or more communicators for purposes of command, instruction or play. Language is basically a means of both oral and written communication. Without language, people in community cannot cooperate in their activity. Language allows people to say things to each other and express their communication needs. Language is the cement of society, allowing people to love work, and play together. Jackson and Howard state that “language is the particular form of verbal communication used by a specific group of speakers. A language is defined in part by the particular characteristics of its pronunciation, grammatical structure and vocabulary. It is the human faculty that enables us to exchange meaningful messages with some of our fellow human beings by means of discourse and text, which are structured according to the rules and conventions of the particular language that people share with those fellow human beings”.

2.2. Spoken and written language

Spoken and written languages are expression side of language, the media by which people disseminate their verbal messages. All languages have a spoken form, but not all written, and no natural language has existed in a written form before being a spoken language. Gerot and Wignell 1994: 161 state that spoken and written languages are both complex but in different ways. Spoken language tends to be complex grammatically and written language tends to be complex lexically. Spoken language tends to be grammatically intricate whereas written language tends to be lexically dense. Spoken language is not the same as written one. They have different characteristic features. Gerot and Wignell state that spoken and written language differ in number of ways. Eggins 1994:57 mentions the differences between spoken and written language as shown in table 2.1: Table 2.1 Characteristic Features of Spoken and Written Language Spoken Language Written Language Turn taking organization Monologic organization Context dependent Context independent Dynamic structure Interactive staging Open-ended Synoptic structure - Rhetorical staging - Closed, finite Spontaneous phenomena false start, hesitations, interruptions, overlap, incomplete clauses “final draft” polished indication of earlier drafts removed Everyday lexis “Prestige” lexis Non-standard grammar Standard grammar Grammatical complexity Grammatical simplicity Lexically sparse Lexically device Source : Eggins, 1994: 57

2.3. Systemic Functional Grammar